Sole-fastening staple



(No Model.)

' I l H. G. THOMPSON.

'' SOLE FASTENING STAPLE.

No. 245,029. I Patented Aug. 2,1881.

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I UNITED STATES FATE-NT OFFICE.

HENRY Cr. THOMPSON, OF MILFORD, CONNECTICUT.

SO-LE-FASTENING STAPLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,029, dated August 2, 1881. Application filed June 6, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY G. THOMPSON,

of Milford, county of NewHaven, State of Connecticut, have invented an Improvement in Sole-Fastening Staples, of which the following description,in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to and has for its object to produce staples specially intended for fastenings for the soles of boots and shoes, they being used in connection with a driving apparatus, in which the staples are fed from a magazine or roadway into position to be acted upon 'bya driver-bar.

Staples have hitherto usually been formed by cutting a continuous wire diagonally across, the said cuts being all parallel to one another and at the proper distance to produce a piece of wire of the right length to form a staple. Severin g the wire diagonally alwaysin the same direction forms at each cut sharpened chisellike points for two staples, and the wire or staple-blank thus cutoif has usually been bent so that the chisel-like edges of the points are in. line with one another and the beveled portions formed by the diagonal cuts lie at opposite sides of the legs of the staple, or one at the-front and the other at the rear of the staple, and when driven into material the said legs turn in opposite directions, twisting the upper part of the staple and preventing the proper clinching of the points, as is desired.

Another and more serious objection to such ordinary form of staples when employed in a driving apparatus is that when placed in the roadway the tops of the staples touch one another, while an angular space is left between the legs of the adjacent staples, thus permitting them to tip or incline in the roadway, preventing them from feeding properly, as will be more fully, described in another application made by Samuel E. Mower, of even date herewith, relating to a machine for driving staples.

I have succeeded in producing a staple in which these objections are entirely obviated, the said staples being formed from a continu ons wire by cutting it ofl' diagonally in prfoper lengths; but the said cuts, instead of being parallel, are alternately inclined toward opposite sides of the axis of the wire. This may be accomplished by using two cutters, one to out in each direction, or by using a single cutter and causing the wire to rotate on its axis half of a revolution between the successive cuts, so that, although the cutter is at the same inclination to the axis of the wire at each stroke, the cuts at the ends of a given piece of wire or staple-blank are inclined in different directions. The wire or blank thus formed has chisel-like edges at its ends, as in the ordinary staple, but it is so bent as to bring the beveled portions of the points of the blank at the outside or inside, preferably the former, of each leg of the staple, the said chisel-like edges being thus placed parallel each with the other instead of in line, as in the ordinary staple referred to. Staples formed in this way, when placed side by side in a road way, will touch one another throughout their entire length, and will thus be held with their legs parallel to one another, and when inserted into the material to be fastened by them the points will be bent toward one another, and when clinched the points will turn toward one another, coming together and tending to make a closed loop of the wire.

Figure 1 shows a wire with the divisionlines upon which it is cut into blanks to form staples, two of which are indicated in dotted lines as bent to form the completed staple. Fig. 2 is a side view of one of the completed staples.

The wire a, from which the blanks are to be formed, is severed in any usual manner on the lines 2 3, crossing the said wire diagonally, but inclining alternately toward the opposite side of the said wire, as shown, thus producing a series of blanks, a, of equal length, and beveled or inclined at its ends in different directions. The said blanks, when thus cut from the wire, are bent, as shown at a,'to bring the beveled or inclined faceset 5, formed by the cut ting-tool in severing the wire a on the lines 2 3, preferably on the outside of the legs or prongs of the completed staple, but never so as to bring one incline at the front and the other at the back of the staple.

When the wire is cut and bent in accordance with my invention, the cutting-edges 6, forming the points of the said staples, are parallel to one another, and when driven in the material to be fastened the legs of the staples will be caused to converge, owing to forming the wedge-like or beveled parts 4 5 at the outer sides of the staple-legs.

The completed staple shown in Fig. 2 is made of round wire; but it is obvious that wire square or flat, or having any desired form of cross-section, may be employed, the essential feature of the invention consisting in making the lines upon which the wire is severed incline alternately in opposite directions to its axis.

It will be seen, referring to Fig. 2, that the staple is of uniform thickness from its top or bent portion 10 to its point 12, so that when a number of the said staples are placed side by side in a roadway they will be in contact with one another throughout their entire length, and will thus be held parallel instead of touching only at the top or bent portion 10, and leaving the point portion free to turn or tip in one direction or the other, as when formed in the ordinary manner.

I claim- The herein-described method of making staples, which consists in cutting blanks from continuous wire, as described, the plane of separation being inclined in difi'erent directions at the end of each blank, and in bending the said blanks to bring the beveled or severed portion at the outsides of the legs thereof, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY G. THOMPSON.

Witnesses:

H. GRANT THOMPSON, A. L. BLAKESLEE. 

